Neil Skinner, the owner of building contractor Johnson Bros Ltd, is talking about how he is dealing with the loss of £145,000, owed by collapsed construction giant Carillion. Firstly, he had to dismiss two of his employees as a result of the company’s liquidation and now he is considering remortgaging
John Hill and Sons, a family owned and Hereford based hire firm, has ventured into LED site lightning with the purchase of four Trime X-ECO LED lightning sets. “We purchased just four sets of Trime lighting towers from Trime UK. These were purchased via their sales manager, Andrew Owen. One
There’s no doubt that Brexit negotiations continue to dominate the hearts and minds of Britain’s politicians, particularly as the discussions become increasingly tense and acrimonious. While Brexiteers will no doubt be pleased that the government remains focused on delivering a positive deal for Britain, however, there’s an argument that ministers
Neil Skinner, the owner of building contractor Johnson Bros Ltd, is talking about how he is dealing with the loss of £145,000, owed by collapsed construction giant Carillion. Firstly, he had to dismiss two of his employees as a result of the company’s liquidation and now he is considering remortgaging his family home and digging into his overdraft to keep the firm afloat. His small business is among more than 100 across Greater Manchester to have been affected by Carillion’s £900 million debt failure. “We have never been in a situation this bad. We are hoping we can pay for materials, outgoings and wages until we can build up our base again,” said Neil. “It will mean borrowing money against my house and I’ll probably have to use my overdraft. If that works, we’ll survive, if it doesn’t we’re finished.” Johnson Bros has started working with Carillion back in 2014 on a £1 million maintenance contract for RBS banks. As the contract went on, the construction giant was paying later and later, and even when Neil chased the money, he still had to wait longer than 60 days. At the time of the collapse, the unpaid invoices were up to a year old. “Carillion finally resorted to using all the familiar late payment tactics from finding fault with an invoice, referral to their India accounts office, statement queries, disputing invoices, and so on,” explained Neil. “By December, all the people we had been dealing with at Carillion had been made redundant.” After that, Neil had to battle to get them to recognise the outstanding invoices, but it was too late because the company went into liquidation. Small businesses like Johnson Bros suffer from late payments on a daily basis: “They know late payment can destroy small businesses but they rely on this tactic so they can be seen to be profitable themselves, although recent events have shown that, in reality, they have overstretched themselves,” said Neil. Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, set up a campaign to battle big firms making late payments to smaller sub-contractors. However, the amendments that they tried to push were refused by the Government.
John Hill and Sons, a family owned and Hereford based hire firm, has ventured into LED site lightning with the purchase of four Trime X-ECO LED lightning sets. “We purchased just four sets of Trime lighting towers from Trime UK. These were purchased via their sales manager, Andrew Owen. One of the main reasons we decided to go with the Trime brand, even though it was a small order, was that Andrew took such a great interest and did his best to get the machines to us as quickly as he could,” commented Lewis Hill on the purchase. The firm was impressed with the X-ECO’s compact, fuel saving properties, and energy conservation attributes. Trime engineers have calculated that the X-ECO uses approximately £336.00 less in fuel each month, when compared to many lighting sets currently available. These savings equate to a reduction in Co2 output by around 888 kg per month. Additionally, thirteen X-ECOs can be loaded on one single truck, which can potentially lead to an increase in the delivery vehicle fleet utilisation. “We were impressed with the complete Trime team and their knowledge designing and manufacturing lighting towers. We now run almost 20 lighting sets. However we anticipate that we will continue to update some of older sets to Trime units later in the year. This is one of the best services we have received when purchasing new machines,” concluded Lewis Hill. Trime UK has been developing and marketing environmentally sustainable lightning sets for the hire industry for over 50 years. The Trime manufacturing plant is based in Cassinetta di Lugagnano, near Milan and Trime UK is situated in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. John Hill & Sons has been providing a comprehensive range of tools, plant and ground care equipment for private and commercial customers in Hereford and the surrounding areas for over 20 years. They are based in Swainshill, Hereford.
There’s no doubt that Brexit negotiations continue to dominate the hearts and minds of Britain’s politicians, particularly as the discussions become increasingly tense and acrimonious. While Brexiteers will no doubt be pleased that the government remains focused on delivering a positive deal for Britain, however, there’s an argument that ministers may be losing sight of the economic and social issues that continue to plague the UK. Take the current contraction within the construction sector, for example, which has become evident during the first financial quarter and looks set to take hold throughout 2018. In this post, we’ll look at the current performance of the UK construction sector and ask what’s next for this important and increasingly influential market. How has the Construction Industry Stalled in Recent Times? There’s no doubt that Britain’s builders have had a difficult start to the year, with construction activity remaining flat throughout January. This is according to a survey of purchasing managers within the sector, who have released their latest data to the financial markets. More specifically, the IHS Markit construction PMI fell from 52.2 to 50.2 during December, while it is projected to decline further throughout the quarter. This represents a seminal development, as a reading over 50 indicates expansion while anything below this signals the onset of a contraction. The figures are even more concerning given that analysts have forecast a reading of 52, as this highlights the fact that the market is performing far worse than expected. There are two issues that continue to undermine the market, starting with the fact that a number of large commercial and infrastructure projects came to an end during 2017 without being directly replaced. Similarly, house building also contracted due to labour shortages and ongoing economic uncertainly, and both of these challenges have indirect links to the volatility that has been triggered by the ongoing Brexit discussion. What Next for the Construction Industry in the UK? Expert service providers such as DWF Law are well aware of this contraction, particularly given the sudden decline in the number of large-scale commercial and infrastructure projects. Although this has been partially offset by a marginal increase in the number of smaller commercial structures built during the last six months of 2017, this is not enough to assuage concerned stakeholders and construction firms in the UK. Not only this, but additional figures also suggest that the rate of job creation within the sector fell to its lowest level in 18 months towards the end of 2017, and this is arguably of greater concern for those in the sector. After all, this is yet another indicator of contraction within the marketplace, and one that has wider economic connotations given the disproportionately high rate of inflation in relation to earnings. The Last Word This is certainly a space to watch in the near-term, with the construction sector a core foundation of the UK economy. There’s a sense that things could arguably get worse before they get better, with some experts predicting that growth within the construction sector could well be constrained until the Brexit negotiation process is completed.
